Thursday, June 5, 2014

Incandescent vs. LED: June 2014

We replace light bulbs at an astonishing rate in this house.

I don't know why, but it seems to be much more often than our previous house. So I decided it was time for another experiment.

A couple of years ago, I bought a package of Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL). The packaging was a hard plastic blister pack that was nearly impossible to get into. Then after I cut myself getting into it's fortress, the light they emitted was unsatisfying.

We have one in Hubba's closet. He says it doesn't bother him, but it makes me nauseous.

That CFL has been in place for at least a year, maybe longer. I did not write down when I replaced that bulb. But I have refused to buy any more.

So yesterday and today, I replaced two sets of bulbs. One each with a traditional Incandescent and one each with a LED version.

Both sets are on a common switch so they will be used for the same number of hours and turned off and on the same number of times.

I added a beautiful sticky note to each to keep track of when the bulb was replaced and which ones are my test bulbs.

The bathroom has 40W Globe Lights.

The Living Room has 60W Traditional Incandescent... although, the LED version is only 43W.

As of right now, Day 1 and 2, there is not a difference in the feeling emitted from each light bulb.

The LED packaged bulbs were significantly easier to get into than the CFL but not as easy to open as the Incandescent.

The bathroom LED package said the bulb should last more than 7 years and the Living Room Bulb more than 22 years.

At about $10 for 3 Incandescent vs. about the same for each LED, we shall see if it's worth it. ;-)

We have gone for the white LED's in the kitchen and the warmer LED's elsewhere. We haven't replaced a single LED yet ( I think the oldest one is only 2 years old) but found that the CFC's lasted as long as the incandescent ones but we had the disposal issue as they have mercury (or something bad) in them... Im an LED fan myself! - K xps that sticky note wont last as long as the bulb will.... :)

About Me

My husband and I returned to Colorado in 2009 to live a simpler life.
Right now the goal of simple means we are busy. Busy fixing up our farm, raising Alpacas and Tibetan Mastiffs, racing wheelchairs, testing software and building Alpacamundo.
This blog is about these and the other things going on in my head. I hope you find it interesting, useful and inspiring.